Midland marathoner: Boston finish line became mournful crime scene

Published 6:26 pm, Monday, April 15, 2013

Paige Gates, center, is an art teacher at Trinity who has qualified for the Boston Marathon. Her parents, Orman and Bonnie Hubbard, also run marathons. Cindeka Nealy/Reporter-Telegram

Paige Gates, center, is an art teacher at Trinity who has qualified for the Boston Marathon. Her parents, Orman and Bonnie Hubbard, also run marathons. Cindeka Nealy/Reporter-Telegram

Photo: Cindeka Nealy

Midland marathoner: Boston finish line became mournful crime scene

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Exactly 10 minutes after she finished her second-ever running of the celebrated Patriots’ Day Boston Marathon, Midlander Paige Hubbard Gates, still looking for her supportive family, heard the deadly alarming explosion and then another blast near the finish line.

“I couldn’t see anything,” said the 51-year-old Trinity School arts teacher.

Initially, the “scary part” was apprehension about the safety of her family, including her parents, who had been waiting for her at mile 26 of the 26.2-mile marathon.

“They saw me finish, but after the explosion, we couldn’t find each other,” Gates told the Reporter-Telegram in a phone interview Monday afternoon.

She was fearful that her family might have possibly “gotten hurt or trampled” in the confusion at or near the finish line.

After she finished her run in just more than 3 hours and 49 minutes for an 8:45-per-mile pace, Gates and her family returned to their hotel to watch the television news and commentary.

“I feel so sad for all those people” -- the dead, the injured, the bereaved, she said. “It is just awful.

“It is so sad,” said Gates, who last year, after finishing her first Boston Marathon at age 50, allowed this insight into her running: “I get very spiritual when I run, close to God and everything.”

Of the spirituality of running, she said, “Thank the Lord, and be happy you are on the Earth when you finish.”

According to the Boston Athletic Association, two Midlanders in addition to Gates -- Steve Berrones, 45, and Michael Crawford, 37 -- registered for the marathon. Crawford’s finishing time was posted at 3:35. No finishing time was posted for Berrones. However, he ran the 2012 marathon in 2 hours and 52 minutes.

The celebrations and encouraging shouts of “congratulations” and “good job” as each runner crossed the finish line suddenly turned gravely solemn at the mournful crime scene, Gates said.